Timothy Walker

Disputes Abound When Law Firms Dissolve

By Peter J. Sluka on July 11, 2022

Posted in Dissolution Basics, Liquidation, Partnerships, Valuation

How does one value a law firm’s caseload at dissolution? The litigation over the dissolution of Brown Chiari LLP has already made its mark on business divorce jurisprudence. As it approaches its sixth birthday, the case continues to deliver, with Erie County Commercial Division Justice Timothy J. Walker recently authoring two notable decisions concerning a partner’s interest in the firm’s substantial caseload at the time of its dissolution.
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Battle of the Estoppels

By Franklin C. McRoberts on May 17, 2021

Posted in Dissolution Basics, Limited Liability Partnerships

Business divorce lawsuits often come in pairs (or trios), making preclusionary principles like estoppel a recurring phenomenon. In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we consider an appeals court’s recent take on three competing estoppel doctrines arising from the same law firm limited liability partnership breakup.
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Lawyer Says, “I’m Not a Partner, No Wait, I am a Partner!” Which is It?

By Franklin C. McRoberts on September 30, 2019

Posted in Partnerships

Law firms see more than their fair share of business divorce litigation. But what are the chances of lightning striking twice? In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a fascinating, post-trial decision in which an upstate law firm endured a bitter partnership breakup for the second time in a decade, with the same partner taking the opposite position in each lawsuit.
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